CH 2

He took me to his house. For the first time in a long while, I fell asleep surrounded by a warm, soft, sweet smell.

The next morning before I woke up, Masaya came to look for me.

He scooped me up in his arms and took me in the direction of something bright.

He pulled on something which made a whooshing sound, and blazing light rushed into my eyes. I shut them tightly.

As I got used to the brightness, I cautiously opened my eyes. In front of me was one giant, expansive sheet of color. Here and there floated bits of white fog.

“With this blue sky, it’s hard to believe it was ever raining.”

Now that I think about it, I’ve never in my life been somewhere that wasn’t dark. When I saw my first human, I immediately was put into a box and abandoned  where I was yesterday. I was left in the shadow of a building, out of reach of any light, so I have never seen the blue sky. This is my first time.

“That’s right. I haven’t named you yet. You’re a cat so… Tama? Nahh, that’s too common. Kuro for your black fur? But that’s more of a dog’s name.”

(T/N: Kuro means black in Japanese.)

Masaya continued to mumble names. I would have been fine with any name, really, butーー

“Okay. How about Sora?”

(T/N: Sora means sky in Japanese.)

As soon as I heard that name, it resounded with the “blue sky” that I had described earlier, and I felt it would be good. Without thinking, I meowed. Masaya smiled broadly.

“I see. So you like it, huh? From now on, your name is Sora. It’s good to have you, Sora.”

As he said that, Masaya began to stare off into the distance.

His eyes, lonely, seemed to be searching for something farther away than the blue sky. 

It felt as if, somehow, he would drift away if left like this. I meowed loudly once again.